Month: July 2011

Good news for those of you who missed Jimmie Bise on DaTechGuy on DaRadio You can now listen to the whole show here.

And for those interested in the Johnsonia relief party we talked about, and the beer available there Click here and buy your tickets in Advance and save between $3 and $16 while helping people who have lost their homes due to fire in Fitchburg.

And remember you can enter the raffle to be a co-host on DaTechGuy on DaRadio August 27!

One of the things we are often told by atheists and radical darwinists is that we are simply an evolved animal. The idea that we are “created in God’s” image is simply nonsense and that we should accept the idea that we are simply no different from an Ape except for being slightly ahead on the evolutionary curve. Many earth worshipers (and yes many radical environmentalists are simply worshiping dirt but I digress) insists that we are no different or more valuable than any individual plant or animal on the planet.

It’s an interesting argument and one that always produces the same question in me:

If this is the case why are you complaining about anything we do?

If we pollute, so what, that is how we evolved to do things.

If we mine, so what, we are just animals using tools as our development dictates.

If we build houses in pristine wilderness or divert rivers and it hurts a fish, so what, that is how evolution has directed the human animal.

If we drill for oil, if we tear down mountains if we go to the moon, this are all things people do.

“But But” you might scream, you have a duty to protect your environment. You have a duty to protect other species?” My answer is “what duty”? Nothing in my evolution gives me that duty, it is simply your opinion, my evolution tells me to try to get the best food I can eat, the best drink I can drink, the best shelter I and find and the best mate I can locate. Your societal constructions are just from one branch, no different that if one species of monkey does one thing and another species does another.

And it goes beyond that, Remember Ms. Watson in the elevator? If we are just an evolved animal on what basis does Ms. Watson or anyone else have to complain about that guys behavior? Darwinism trumpets the survival of the fittest and the strongest. If that is natures way and we are mere animals than how is any such action anything more than the natural animal expression of that truth. In fact if you are a Darwinist woman you have no business complaining if your man or woman is cheating, they aren’t cheating, they are just acting the way evolution steered them.

Why do we complain about a thief who steals? If he is the stronger and cleverer than of course he preys on the weaker. That is natural. And since we are not dealing with eternal rules but rather rules that we as a society agree on (all cultures being equal of course) then who are we to say what rules have to be followed at what time?

New York by just two votes redefined what the state recognized as “Marriage” for over 3 centuries word marriage means. Whose to say that someday a new vote might change how other things are defined? If one chooses to deny the Golden Rule than they have no business complaining about fair play, because in such a world he who has the gold or the biggest stick makes the rules and philosophically by their own standards, that is how it should be.

And if in countries women are oppressed or people are tortured or enslaved, hey that’s evolution for you, remember Polar Bears eat their young, they are just being themselves, so are we as humans. All of the “evil” acts that we commit, we can’t complain.

That trial in Florida last month? Hey Casey Anthony it’s not her fault she just evolved this way.

BTW I define a “radical Darwinist” as a person who doesn’t just look at his scientific work as scientific work worthy of study and admiration for what he got right and instead elevate it to a religion complete with excommunication for those whose belief is not of sufficient purity. Such people in Catholicism would be committing the sin of scrupulosity, (a deviation of pride)

Like this:

UPDATE: 9 p.m. EST. The president, the speaker of the house and Harry Reid have all signed off on a deal, it seems to me that the president has one chance to get a bit of political traction out of this, if he is able to draw say 80 democratic votes in the house and 30-35 votes in the Senate then the president can take some credit for a “compromise” however it doesn’t change the fact that the biggest win here belongs to the tea party.

The real trap for the democrats is if the Tea Party supports this bill. If they end up going for it and Democrats oppose it en-mass then it will be much harder for the MSM to attack the tea party on the deal (not that it has ever stopped them in the past).

Do I support the deal? I have no idea, I haven’t read it, I can’t support something when I don’t know what it is. They say there is a balanced budget amendment piece in it but lets not forget this quote from Presidential candidate Buddy Roemer:

Question: Buddy, are you in favor of a Balanced Budget Amendment?

Gov Roemer: No, unless we have a 2/3 requirement to raise taxes. That’s the key. A Balanced Budget Amendment will force the Congress to raise taxes, ’cause they don’t want to cut spending. So you’d better give me a 2/3 vote requirement to raise taxes. You see the difference there? If you have the law that says a balanced budget, then the President won’t have to go to Congress; he’ll raise taxes 1.3 trillion, that’s how much the budget’s unbalanced. You see? The law helps the taxer, so be careful about a balanced budget; you don’t want to be for a Balanced Budget Amendment without a 2/3 vote to raise taxes.

I also know that any deal that offers cuts “over 10 years” is not enforceable.

I don’t know if this will pass with 216 votes 316 votes or 416 votes. It might even fail but until I see this bill I won’t know for sure.

——————–

Unlike many of my friends on the right I hit the sack early yesterday after concluding that the entire “debt crisis” business is not an economic crisis story but a political story where the winner (The tea party, honorable mention GOP) and the loser (The White house, honorable mention the progressive left) has already been established.

So even through there were a few amusing moments such as Harry Reid blocking consideration of his own bill as chronicled by Stacy McCain and Michelle Malkin I decided it wasn’t worth losing sleep over.

If Obama endorses this deal, most Democrats will have no choice but to back it; after all, they have been doing the most Chicken Little screeching about the consequences of legislative failure.

This is the political corner that the democrats have painted themselves into, you can’t be crying “crisis” and then not choose to solve it.

The only other option for congressional democrats, if they’ve already decided the president is a loser, is to abandon him en-mass in the hopes the GOP can’t get tea party to pass it. That is however very risky thus highly unlikely.

Either way the left can take solace from the one caveat to their defeat, as Rush Limbuagh loudly pointed out this week. Any and all of the cuts (real or phony) comes after the left set a new higher baseline for spending.

It will make the actual fixing of the problem by the republican congress and president post 2013 that much harder, but the Tea Party republicans and hopefully a non-establishment GOP president will be up to the task.
Update:Stacy at the American Spectator

The agreement would take the country through the 2012 election, but the Boehner bill two-step cutting process would remain. A trillion in cuts up front would be followed by $1.8 more to be determined by a bipartisan commission. . . .
The president gets a deal through 2012; the House gets its cuts; and Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) gets his commission.

Every party to this bargain could thus claim partial victory. The key triumph for the GOP? No new taxes, not even on those “millionaires and billionaires” whom Obama has been demonizing in his speeches for the past several weeks.

Claims, shlaimbs, people can claim all they like, we already have a winner and no claim by anyone is going to change it.

Share this:

Like this:

What do you do if you are the NYT and your attempt to convince the GOP that if taxes aren’t raised the sky is going to fall fails? You do the only thing you can to make sure your President is not blamed for a the crisis he insisted was upon us. Redefine the scope of the “crisis.”

A credit downgrade would probably increase the cost of borrowing for the federal government and for everyone else. But the Obama administration, House Republicans, some economists and Wall Street strategists have concluded that the economic impact would be surprisingly modest

But But we’ve been told by everybody that the sky was falling? How can this be? The Times again:

“A downgrade of the U.S. government would, in our view, not cause that many investors to dispose of their Treasuries,” Arnaud Mares, head of sovereign strategy at Morgan Stanley, told investors during a conference call on Thursday.

“We think it would accelerate the ongoing trend toward less reliance on ratings in regulation and investment mandates.”

“So the effect,” he said, “would be more on the use of ratings than on the market itself.”

In other words need to make sure that you understand that when the president’s giant political bluff is called, there won’t be any kind of disaster to blame upon the White House.

If your candidate is appearing anywhere in driving distance of me in Fitchburg Mass. and you want me to cover a Q & A, send me the event info. If it is farther away and you want to fly me in, cover my expenses and I’ll do that too.

Looking at MSNBC this morning on the debt ceiling I can see that where this is and where it is going.

I slept in a bit this morning but caught the end of Morning Joe and the beginning of Chuck Todd’s show, they are opining on the dysfunction of the house of representatives because Boehner bill did not pass.

Excuse me?

The House has passed bill after bill, they passed a budget when the neither the Democratic House of the Senate under Harry Reid, they have sent these bills to the Senate but they have been a model of inaction. They passed Cut Cap and Balance which still sits on the table in the Senate today.

For the MSM it has been a heads you lose, tails you lose. If the GOP passes Boehner bill (and I thought it should pass) then the Senate would ignore it, and the story would be all about how the house can’t pass a bill that the senate could accept and intransigent GOP members.

If the GOP doesn’t pass the Boehner bill then it’s all about a dysfunctional house not passing anything in a crisis. (Somehow the 180+ democrats who wouldn’t vote for it hold no responsibility for this.)

Now lets look at the senate side. Reid has passed NOTHING, zip zero nada. There have been a lot of talk about this plan and that plan but there has been no bill, nothing brought to the floor, nothing with actual figures that people can vote on.

If your candidate is appearing anywhere in driving distance of me in Fitchburg Mass. and you want me to cover a Q & A, send me the event info. If it is farther away and you want to fly me in, cover my expenses and I’ll do that too.

Despite holding personal pro-life beliefs, Texas Gov. Rick Perry categorized abortion as a states’ rights issue today, saying that if Roe v. Wade was overturned, it should be up to the states to decide the legality of the procedure.

“You either have to believe in the 10th Amendment or you don’t,” Perry told reporters after a bill signing in Houston. “You can’t believe in the 10th Amendment for a few issues and then [for] something that doesn’t suit you say, ‘We’d rather not have states decide that.’”…

This is a Sine Qua Non for me and a bunch of people who only vote Republican over abortion. This is not a 10th amendment issue this is life or death as Klaven pointed out

But more and more, that point of view is coming to seem to me pre-scientific. In any case, if that’s the argument pro-choicers want to have, let’s have that argument, and no other — because no other matters. And if we as a free people decide that unborn children are children indeed, there is no moral alternative: we must not only end abortion, but put our full efforts into supporting humane and broadly available methods of welcoming the unwanted.

For me Perry’s position is worse than pro-abortion people who at least don’t think they are killing human life, he apparently believes abortion is the killing a child but is still willing to let the 10th amendment override it. That’s obscene.

Or think of it another way; since before the 13th amendment was passed Slavery was permitted by the constitution we must assume he would have supported slavery in the south even if he was “personally opposed” It’s not quite Alexander Stephens but it isn’t good.

If Rick Perry is the nominee and the GOP expects me to send money or sing his praises they’re idiots. I will still argue against Obama but don’t expect me to hold a Perry sign anywhere. For Perry the 10th Amendment may trump life, but to me, life trumps Perry. And Allahpundit thinks this is smart?

This week, Texas governor and potential Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry took a states’ rights position on abortion saying states should have the ability to ban abortions. Now, a pro-life organization is challenging him to go a step further by endorsing a federal Constitutional amendment that would offer legal protection for unborn children.

CNN.com informs us that the wealth gap between whites and blacks and Hispanics has been widening, and then informs us that the reasons for such a disparity are historical. Yes, you read that right: the twenty-first century increase in wealth is due to historical problems. (Note to any aspiring statisticians, sociologists, etc. who are reading: if you see a trend that is changing in one direction, do not posit an explanation for such that would imply a change in the opposite direction.)

Now, far be it for me to say that everything can change in one generation, and that poverty is not handed down from one generation to the next, nor to ignore the recession’s disparate effect upon some minorities, but there is a social reason for this modern increase in the disparity between whites and minorities: differing family structures. Marriage is the single best way to build wealth in a family. Prior to the sexual revolution, whites, blacks, and Hispanics married at similar rates. For example, almost 80% of adult African-Americans were married in 1960, compared to 28% in 2000. (Data are here.) Sixties-era marriage rates amongst whites were slightly higher than blacks, but very similar; however, the modern decline in marriage amongst whites pales in comparison to the drop in marriage rates amongst blacks. (More data are here.) Likewise, the vast majority of black babies were born to married parents up through the 1940s (about 80%), whereas only 20% of African-American babies are born to married parents today. Amongst whites, those numbers are about 6% through the 1940s and 1950s, to about 30% today. Declines in marriage rates and in-wedlock birth rates amongst Hispanics are approximately between those of whites and blacks, which mirrors the achievement gaps and wealth gaps.

The Left’s mad experiment in social re-engineering did not hurt privileged groups nearly as much as under-privileged groups. As I often say, traditional values aren’t for the upper-middle class or the rich; they are for the people who want to be middle-class or want to stay the middle-class that their parents were (rather than becoming working class).

If your candidate is appearing anywhere in driving distance of me in Fitchburg Mass. and you want me to cover a Q & A, send me the event info. If it is farther away and you want to fly me in, cover my expenses and I’ll do that too.

“Today in the Senate, I met with Senators Jon Kyl and Mark Kirk. The meeting is very useful because it shows that the alternative to Barack Obama is a collapse of all the programs of cooperation with Russia,” he said. “Today, I had the impression that I was transported in a time machine back several decades, and in front of me sat two monsters of the Cold War, who looked at me not through pupils, but targeting sights.”

Hans- Hermann Hertle, project direct of the ZZF Center for Historical Research, told journalists at a briefing in Berlin. He said the number is likely to rise and said as many as 100,000 people served jail sentences for attempting to flee the regime.

Monsters of the cold war indeed!

A whole new generation of people have been born after these events. When Rogozin says these things he is banking on their ignorance. It is our duty to make sure to make sure they are not forgotten and men like Rogozin try to play with history they are called on it.

Like this:

Around July 4th there was a dispute between Pam Geller and the blog Gates of Vienna concerning some elements of the EDL, at the time I said this:

I can’t pretend I know about the EDL or the European situation as well as Pam or the folks at Gates, (If I knew it, then it wouldn’t be necessary to read them for the info) but I know Pam, she has been a friend to me, we spoke and she filled me in the best she could on the meat and potatoes of the dispute and gave me her word on the accuracy of it.

Bottom line: Pam word is good enough for me!

In his post today Stacy McCain remembers a dispute from just a few weeks ago:

let me just remind you that, three weeks before the Oslo massacre, Pamela Geller was being criticized for going public with her concerns about neo-Nazi elements in the English Defence League. My defense of her at that time was simple: If Pamela Geller says you’ve got an anti-Semitism problem, you probably have an anti-Semitism problem.

Fast-forward to the aftermath of Oslo, and Breivik’s claims of “connections” with members of the EDL.

If this is true, don’t you kind of wonder if the EDL members who were buddies with the Norwegian terrorist were some of the same neo-Nazi types Geller was warning about?

Now we don’t know if what this guy Breivik’s is telling the truth on having help or if he was just blowing smoke, (I’m sure the authorities are investigating) but it’s a question worth asking.

Like this:

I wonder if the media will tell us not to jump to conclusions about this.

At least one U.S. military serviceman has been arrested after raising concerns over another alleged plot to attack Fort Hood, Fox News has learned exclusively.

Pvt. Nasser Jason Abdo, an AWOL soldier from Fort Campbell, Kentucky, was arrested by the Killeen Police Department near Fort Hood and remains in custody there. Authorities, however, will not say if Abdo is the one who raised security concerns.

Abdo was allegedly found with weapons and explosives at the time of his arrest, a senior Army source confirms to Fox News. He was arrested at around 2 p.m. Wednesday after someone called authorities to report a suspicious individual.

Well I’m sure I must be totally wrong about a possible Islamic connection. Just because the soldier was AWOL and refused to serve in Afghanistan because he was unwilling to fight his fellow Muslims that doesn’t mean a thing, does it?

I’m sure there must be a way for the left to blame Pam Geller.

Update: Rather amazing, People ran to try to connect Geller with Breivik without any connection, Let’s see if those same folks comment on the Direct connection between Abdo and theseanti-war groups

If your candidate is appearing anywhere in driving distance of me in Fitchburg Mass. and you want me to cover a Q & A for Questions on the 10’s, send me the event info. If it is farther away and you want to fly me in, cover my expenses and I’ll do that too.

Like this:

Love him or hate him Ted Kennedy was one of the most effective Senators in the history of the land.

Kennedy’s genius was political. It was in his ability to be wholly partisan publicly while making compromises that slowly and surely advanced his agenda over the decades. Each change establishing principles (read disasters) that became the new baseline for the next deal. If Ted Kennedy instead played Bernie Sanders game, he never would have achieved anything he wanted. By happily taking a small piece at a time he changed the land making it , in many ways a country that is totally different from the one I grew up in.

The Tea Party Freshman have been following my advice concerning the democrats and have ridden right through them, and pushed them, but I think they might not realize how much they’ve already won.

Consider:

Gone is the talk about raising the tax rates or repealing the “Bush Tax Cuts” (and how stupid are democrats? Thanks to them the words “Tax Cuts” and “George Bush” are linked forever!)

Gone is the talk of a second stimulus, no sign of any kind of big spending is to be had.

The only talk is cuts, some are real, some of shadowy, but the only topic on the table is cuts cuts cuts.

Put simply the conversation in Washington has shifted, the battle is now being fought on the ground of our choosing, not the Democrats field, not the President’s field and not the Establishment Republicans field, but it’s now in our park.

We have set the state for the political battle in 2012, a clear choice between the parties, and we have changed the debate inside the republican party as well.

We have driven our political foes from the field and chased them to the gates of the White house, but we are in danger of overrunning our supply train, or spending our horses so to speak.

We have pushed it as far as we practically can with only a single house. The time has come to reign in the horses and resupply. I think the time has come to pass the Boehner plan.

The GOP gets it, they will not be able to go back to business as usual and they understand that if they try to do so, we will stop them.

After 2012 with a GOP president and a GOP Senate we will have even more leverage that we do now and will be able to make the types of permanent changes, chances that will achieve the goals caused many of you got involved.

It took decades to make this mess, if it takes more than a single congressional session to set it right, I think that’s acceptable.

We’ve won the tactical battle, but to win the war I think it’s time to think strategic.

My advice is to vote for the Boehner plan today, and in 2013 we will be able to finish the job you started.

In closing, let me say, I’m extremely proud of all of you, you’ve exceeded my wildest expectations. You’ve ridden right through them , now lets rest and feed the horses so we can do it again.

Like this:

…it seems to reveal him for something other than the media portrayed him:

[In his manifesto] you can see how, to save the environment, he wants the world to rid itself of oil consumption. You can see how he wants a one-child policy, government control of private industries, the breakup of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire, the military support of Russia to prevent a possible U.S. invasion of Europe, and the removal of all U.S. military bases from European soil. Yes, the tea party platform through and through, folks!

And of course he wants Christianity without the Christ as well:

Myself and many more like me do not necessarily have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and God. We do however believe in Christianity as a cultural, social, identity and moral platform. This makes us Christian.

Keep the culture and lose the religion, that sounds more Hitchens and Dawkins than JP II or Billy Graham to me, (not that either bear any responsibility for Breiviks’ horrible crimes) it certainly isn’t Christianity. As I wrote long ago.

I know I’ve been beating this horse to death but it is one of the most important things a Christian in general and a Catholic in particular needs to understand. Christianity is a challenge to yourself and to others. When done correctly it can inspire many to salvation, when done poorly it can do the opposite. It is diametrically opposed to the world, it’s belief system is an absolute:

Jesus Christ is the son of God, he died and rose from the dead for the forgiveness of sins!

It is either true or false. If you believe this to be false you are not a Christian, period. If you claim to believe it is true but act as if it is false then you have to resolve some issues

When the news of the attack broke, many people suspected the terrorist or terrorists were motivated by Islam. I did, based on what I was reading at Reuters, the NYT, and elsewhere. When the news broke that the attacker wasn’t Muslim, I noted it immediately. When the facts changed, I changed my opinion.

Will these bloggers and media outlets that are trying to tie Breivik to American conservatives bother to note what’s actually in Breivik’s manifesto? Will these facts change their opinion? Or are they so eager to use a mass murder for political purposes that they don’t care about the truth?

An 8 year-old boy was hanged by militants in Afghanistan’s Helmand province after the boy’s father — a police officer in the southern city of Gereshk — refused to comply with militants’ demands to provide them with a police vehicle, officials said.

A suicide bomber killed the mayor of Afghanistan’s Kandahar Wednesday, a further blow to stability in the southern city still reeling from the assassination two weeks ago of President Hamid Karzai’s powerbroker half-brother.

Insurgents were believed responsible for the killings of two policemen Wednesday afternoon in Pattani province.

Police Col. Chonvee Chavarerk said Sgt.-Maj. Narin Hatre, 39, and Sgt.-Maj. Noppadol Man-ah, 38, were riding a motorcycle back from a songbird competition when two gunmen on the back of a pickup truck opened fire with M16 assault rifles, killing both.

On Monday, five teachers and two defense volunteers in Yala province were wounded by a roadside bomb as they were going to school.

A man gunned down six of his daughters on suspicion that two of them were in relationships with boys in the neighbourhood.

On Tuesday morning, Arif Mubashir called his teenage daughters to his room and shot them while the rest of the family, including their mother, watched. His wife Musarrat called the police after the incident.

Mubashir shot the girls after their brother said two of them were in a relationship. He told police officials that he had killed his daughters because they were both “without honour”.

We need to stand together with those who are fighting for freedom and human dignity. We need to make sure that they know that not only do we have their backs, but also, we need to show those who will stoop to the lowest of low tactics to destroy the righteous that we will not be cowed.

Please join me in showing support for those who are being unjustly attacked by sharing, Tweeting, emailing, re-blogging the message that the enemies of freedom will never ever silence the truth tellers. Send me your name (or username) and/or the name of your blog (if you have one) and I will update this post with a roll call of those who stand in solidarity for goodness and against evil.

Like this:

During his appearance at the Border Grille on Monday Presidential Candidate answered questions on all kinds of subjects. There were too many to put in a single post so I’m going to do them in pairs over the next several days:

Let’s start with the first question on drilling and the Environmentalism

There are two short clips.

BTW I will be happy to do this with any presidential candidate at any forum I attend, you simply have to get me there.

Would S&P have threatened a downgrade if Congress had just given Obama the clean debt-ceiling increase he wanted? If not, why are they making a fuss about plans that promise to increase the ceiling and reduce the deficit a bit? … It’s lucky I’m not paranoid, because if I were I might think that, like the Oslo judges, they are doing their part to help our President out. ….

The “Common Sense Solutions” bus tour kicks off Aug. 4 in Des Moines. I’m thinking of booking a one-way flight because it’s my first trip to Iowa and, while I’ll be following Cain’s bus tour across the Hawkeye State, I also want to catch up with as many of the other candidates as I can before the straw poll.

My general idea is to get a solid on-the-ground perspective of the political landscape in Iowa, to talk to organizers, activists and operatives, developing sources so that all I have to do — as we move ahead toward the February 2012 GOP caucuses — is make a few phone calls to get the straight lowdown.

Stacy McCain’s goal is a full $300 less than my goal was 5 days ago, and there are a full 9 days before he has to leave.

We all know Stacy as a live wire, he drinks coffee compulsively, drives much faster than he should, smokes like a chimney, is one of the hardest partiers in bloggerdom, and is willing to drop the blog gloves the moment his honor (or the honor of a friend) is challenged.

He is also one of the most effective shoe leather reporters you’ve ever seen, he’s able to distil a long speech into the one or two most important themes within it without a second thought. He’s incredibly well read, can spot an interesting person in a crowd of hundreds and has a grasp of the English language that many reporters making big money can only imagine. He has the peculiar talent for getting himself where the story is and getting the info that the MSM missed, or chooses not to report. I’ve learned more in the 18 months I’ve known Stacy than a four-year degree could teach me. All he’s learned from me in return is the value of a fedora.

And the fruit of all of this effort, at the cost of time away from his family he offers to the entire world, with only one request. Hit The TIP Jar!

Stacy writes for money and has never pretended otherwise, he is getting ready to tell you another story first hand of a campaign in action. If that’s something you want to read, then head on over to the Other McCain and kick in a buck or two and when it’s written and commented on all over the world, you can look back and say:

Raymond Hanna of Act for America had been scheduled to speak at the Twin City Tea Party last night (July 25th) in Leominster, however due to the appearance of presidential candidate Buddy Roemer he was bumped at the last-minute. He was kind enough to stand for an interview

Last night Buddy Roemer visited the Twin city Tea Party in Leominster Mass (photos here)

It is rather rare for candidates (Particularly GOP candidates) to visit the state, our votes are reliably democratic and Mitt Romney the former governor is a candidate, it might be considered an unorthodox strategy.

It was very clear right from the start that Gov Roemer is a master pol, although arriving slightly late he went from table to table. He made it a point to visit every table and actually take time to talk to people. A photographer from the Sentinel and Enterprise foll wed him around chronicling the event.

After a short introduction from John Weston of WCRN Buddy got to it. He thanked his Massachusetts coordinator and got right to it talking about his time both in Congress and his early days as Governor of Louisiana

He talked about budges and said that this one CAN be balanced

He raised a point about moving jobs overseas and approached it from an environmental standpoint, noting our standards are much higher than China, but stressed that this was due to Big Money in politics noting that we allow companies to deduct foreign taxes from their US taxes. (provision 27a)

Jobs was his primary message and he drove it home.

And then he answered question after question after question (too many to post them all here, I’ll include them over the next several days with individual posts on each question. He peppered answers with a bit of folksy talk but directly answered the questions and wasn’t afraid to take positions not always supported by the GOP.

The most dramatic moment was near the end with former Congressional Candidate and WCRN weekend host Tom Wesley got up and directly wrote a $100 check for the governor (the max he will take) and challenged others to do the same. Quite a few people there followed that example. When everything was done I interviewed the Governor.

Roemer is yet another appealing candidate in a field full of appealing candidates, his determination to take no more than $100 from anyone, and his old fashioned economic populism combined with practical fiscal answers on both the jobs and the budget certainly won over a lot of the crowd, many former democrats like himself. In fact it seems to me his message was not that different from the conservative democrats of the 70’s that were so appealing to me. Can he pull it off, several people doubted he could, his strategy seems to be to keep himself in play long enough in play to move forward. Will slow and steady win the race? We will find out but I’ll tell you this, by focusing on Massachusetts tonight he may have won over an untapped batch of activists who are only a 30 minute drive from the New Hampshire border and THAT’s smart.

Update: My piece for the examiner on the appearance can be found here.

Like this:

I’ve been very busy this morning working on a project and thanking all those who gave me a hand in the 72 hours from Thursday night through yesterday but there are a few stories that you guys need to see.

The only thing I’m sure of is that what I saw today is a broken process and a sham. We all want a decent environment in which to live, but when various people at a public meeting — including federal officials and community members — talk about “environmental justice” and make it clear that their intent is to make it harder for businesses to operate, well, I can see why a businessman would decide to quit. I consider myself an environmentalist — because I want to live in a safe, secure, clean world — but what I saw isn’t reasonable concern for the environment as much as it’s an ideological agenda.

Environmentalism is simply a religion that the left approves of (sometimes I think left will approve of any religion as long as it doesn’t involve Christ).

2. Molly Who?

NYT jumps on the blame game trying to pin the murders in Norway on those in the US who fight against Jihad. I notice two things missing from their argument andthearguments of all those on the left rushing to link to it.

1. The Body count of those killed by Radical Islam this month (over 1100 casualties 436 of them killed). For some reason all of those talking about hate have no words of support or sympathy for those 1100, I’d love to know why. And more importantly that is just July, how is it that the June, May, April, March, February or January figures are not of the least interest to them?

2. How many people do the FBI have in hiding because they are in fear of their lives of those who oppose Jihad in the US? I can’t name one, but I can name one US Citizen, a lady named Molly Norris who even now is forced to live under an assumed name due to a Fatwa on her life. Strangely enough she is not worth a mention either.

The perfect visualization of this of all of this nonsense is at the Minority Report blog today.

Perhaps we Colonials simply misunderstand the subtle nuance of the concept of seduction, for we are unsophisticated blockheads. We are apt to imagine Rudolf Valentino, perhaps, when in fact the Figura of Seduction is a randy old buck naked French satyr head banging a third-world maid in a first-world hotel bathroom against her will before running off to have lunch with his daughter and flying home. That is apparently what passes for charming.

I’ve been busy and haven’t written anything new for the Conservatory in a few days but the conservatory is always worth your time.

He links to the Baltimore Sun column that talks of the irony of people railing against corporations while working for one of the largest ones out there:

That’s a good question. And hosts like Olbermann and Uygur only answer it after they have left MSNBC.

In the end, the only way for MSNBC hosts to keep faith with the ideology they espoused on the air was to denounce MSNBC.

I can see the 30 seconds ad now

Poor ideological children. They spent their time fighting for the weakest among us. Now they are cast out and displaced from their comfortable home. Once they were loved by Million hundreds of thousands thousands, now they are displaced with few prospects and even fewer viewers and not even a book deal.

Can you see these poor faces and not give? (images via Wikipedia)

Look at these poor faces and do what your heat tells you.

I’m sure this PSA will be running on every screen in Berkley and San Francisco.

Share this:

Like this:

Three days ago at a McDonalds in Pelham NH I found myself putting up a post that I found rather embarrassing, detailing a rather tight financial situation and asking for help. I detailed the bills that came up, the bills totaled about $1950 but I set my goal at $1800 as I had enough to cover small emergencies.

71 hours into the fund drive the following comment was left by blogger Dr. Weevel saying in part:

Why don’t you just get a free blog on WordPress, no hosting costs at all, then get a real job and blog in your spare time. If you aren’t making enough money without this really pathetic spectacle, you aren’t talented enough a writer to make a living.

The folks at Monty Python had a different opinion on the fundraising method used

Mr. Ford: I just go up to them in the street and ask

Merchant Banker of Slater-Nazi: My God! That’s the most exciting new idea I’ve heard in years. It’s…it’s so simple it’s brilliant! Well if that Idea of your’s isn’t worth a pound I’d like to know what is?

The irony is that the Doc’s comment came into my queue just as I was updating my post to announce the exceeding of my goal by a full 2% in only 71 hours and 41 minutes and writing my 76th thank you note.

For those interested in raw numbers a total of 76 donations came in from 75 different people (Stacy McCain kicked in twice). The smallest amount given was $2 the largest $100. The total was $1833.26 with an average gift of $24.12 after paypal’s take.

Every single one of those gifts from the smallest to the largest was most welcome and very appreciated.

Also appreciated are the links, Stacy McCain has beaten the drum for me for days, Glenn Reynolds instalanched me twice, Joy McCann and Dan Collins liked via both the conservatory and their blogs, Cyntha Yockey, and the Lonely Conservative both linked, Susan Ducos of Wake up America did as well.

My fellow bloggers have treated me very well, they have shared their links and their potential tip jar hitters, they are the best friends a man can have.

For those still interested in raw numbers this year between the two blogs the sites have drawn 333,000 hits the 75 donors represent. I had 9 tip jar hitters (not counting ad purchasers who paid via paypal) during the year before this fundraiser, making a total of 84 tip jar hits generated in 333,000 hits averaging about one tip jar hit for every 4000 visits. The vast majority of tip jar hits have been since Thursday evening. I’ve had 3865 hits as since the day the bleg started averaging a tip jar hit for every fifty visitors, an incredible number but understandable since many people came from links promoting the blog.

As I typed this post 3 new donors gave an additional 42.79 raising the grand total to 1876.05 a full 104% of my goal!

For those who do not know I started this blog in Nov of 2008 at the free wordpress site (datechguy.wordpress.com) just after the company I worked & blogged for folded. After two years of failure to find work I fell into the DaTechGuy on DaRadio gig on WCRN AM 830 a 50,000 Watt station out of Worcester. I buy my time for the show, sell ads online and on air and live off the difference for 8 months the show has managed to stay in the black as we’ve brought in some the best bloggers in the nation, from Stacy McCain to Glenn Reynolds to Little Miss Attila to Yid with Lid who appeared this week.

The plan is to eventually syndicate as we talk to national bloggers on national issues along with some local writers but for now the vast majority of my advertisers are local and New England business’ that I sell door to door on the show.

Until this month’s multiple disasters I had managed to to all right, expenses were covered enough sat in the bank to pay for a extra couple of months, but the particular disasters of the month combined with a very slow July/August have added up to a lot of trouble until you came by to help.

With the funds to alleviate the Car, computer and medical disasters of July I should be able to manager the regular expenses of August and keep the ball rolling as I get into the much more fruitful advertising fields of September as my show’s audience and reach continues to grow.

But none of this would have been possible without all of your help, so for me and mine I say thank you from the bottom of my heart. I am in your debt and I will do my best to insure both the blog and the radio show are worthy of your support.

Raymond Hanna of the group ACT for America will be speaking about radical Islam and presidential candidate Buddy Roemer former governor of Louisiana will be making his pitch for the attendees dollars and votes.

This will take place at the Border Grille and Bar 246 Mill street Leominster mass. (Mapquest Directions here general directions here.

As always I will be there for about 6 p.m. to cover the meeting and will be happy to shoot the breeze with any and all who want to spend their time talking to a fedora wearing blogger. I will of course be covering both speakers who should have an awful lot to say.

Tom Wesley of ma-2 and WCRNThe Twin City tea party has had plenty of good speakers (last month we had Christen Varley of the Boston Tea Party and Tom Wesley former candidate for congress from Ma-2

So if you want a chance to give your ear to two interesting speakers come on down, and if you were one of the 75 people who gave me a hand over the last 72 hours by all means come on down so I can thank you in person. I’ll be the fellow in the fedora and the suit.

Update: Raymond not Richard, corrected the title

Update 2: Raymond is a last minute scratch to give Buddy more time apparently

Did they follow the live BBC coverage? Until the person was identified, all the thinking was jihadist, in fact several Islamic groups claimed responsibility (I’d like to see laws made so any group that claims responsibility for such killings can be prosecuted as accessories after the fact, combine it with Rico and you can go after members too).

I offered a $10 bet that at least one of the people involved in this Norwegian attack is named “Mohammed.” No liberals offered to take that wager

Strangely enough our liberal friends were not in a betting that mood that day. Meanwhile on the subject of jumping to conclusions Michelle Malkin has more to say:

In the Giffords shooting, the Binghamton NY immigration cemter shooting, the Kentucky Census worker death/insurance hoax, Amy Bishop campus shooting spree, and Rep. Russ Carnahan bombing, and Faisal Shahzad Times Square bombing attempt, among others, liberal politicians and activists specifically libeled individual talk show hosts, Fox News, bloggers, and Tea Party activists as murderers. They went after the peaceful political free speech of their enemies and criminalized their policy positions without an iota of proof that such speech had any influence or impact on the real perpetrators of the crime. Even after the suspects were shown to have psychiatric problems, undecipherable political views, or views anathema to the conservative public officials and public figures bearing undue blame, leftist exploiters clung to their tar brushes.

In the Norway massacre, I illuminated explicit death threats and plots by specific jihadi individuals and organizations. It is the Left’s position that these explicitly homicidal signs and realities should be ignored in the immediate aftermath of a terror spree, but that every bullseye image and innocuous reference to “sticking to your guns” is an incitement to murder.

As always, moments like these are truly clarifying.

Very much so, speaking of clarity, and not diminishing either the evil nor the significance of the abominable acts in Norway lets throw a point out there:

I suspect the reason why Stacy McCain had no takers on his bet was the fact that from July 1st to July 23rd, 436 people have been killed, and 693 wounded in the name of Islam in 14 countries. (source)

Think Progress and the left, along with the rest of the world are rightly outraged by the slaughter in Norway. Other than the Islamic groups that claimed responsibility nobody has expressed anything but disgust at this horror.

The difference seems to be I and others opposed to radical Jihad just happen to be also outraged at those murdered in India, Pakistan, Iraq, Dagestan, Yemen, Thailand, Ghana, China, Algeria, Iran, Nigeria, Indonesia, Sudan and the Philippines. I suspect Stacy McCain and Pam Geller are too.

Like this:

A day after a bunch of Norwegian kids who never got a chance to live up to their potential were brutally murdered, the headlines are filled with the death of a person who had a chance to run with her talent and threw it away.

It shouldn’t get to me, but it really upsets me. Life can be very arbitrary, some never get the chance to live, while others get the chance and discard it like trash.

I suggest that we should all reflect on this, and make the most and the best that we can of the uncertain amount of years we are granted.

Share this:

Like this:

James Fallows is outraged over this item in the Washington post by Jennifer Rubin that said in part:

Some irresponsible lawmakers on both sides of the aisle — I will point the finger at Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee and yet backed the Gang of Six scheme to cut $800 billion from defense — would have us believe that enormous defense cuts would not affect our national security. Obama would have us believe that al-Qaeda is almost caput and that we can wrap up things in Afghanistan. All of these are rationalizations for doing something very rash, namely curbing our ability to defend the United States and our allies in a very dangerous world.

It’s natural to wonder whether al-Qaeda, the world’s most famous terrorist organization, might have been involved. But why would the group target Norwegian government infrastructure? Last year, after several immigrants to Norway were arrested plotting terrorist attacks on behalf of al-Qaeda, Thomas Hegghammer and Dominic Tierney wrote “Why Does Al-Qaeda Have a Problem With Norway?” for TheAtlantic.com. Here are some snippets:

There are several theories about why Norway would be on al-Qaeda’s hit-list — but they raise more questions than answers.

Somehow neither this article nor the one it quotes manages to earn the epithet “false & Hysterical”.

I’m sure the fact that it appeared in the Atlantic has nothing to do with it.

One can critique the lack up an update by this time (although it’s possible that like I was yesterday she is away from a pc, after all some of those other posts might have been scheduled) but the False & Hysterical business and the demands for an “Apology to the world” seems to be yet another example of what the Anchoress has been describing:

The press is running with the “right-wing Christian Fundamentalist” narrative with almost unseemly enthusiasm. Those very words appear in the very first sentence in this New York Times report.

…

Is he a “fundamentalist Christian,” though? In what way is this a verified as fact? I’m seeing it all over the place, but while his ideology is pretty clear, I’m not seeing (yet) where he is pronouncing himself a Christian, fundamentalist or otherwise; I’m not reading about church-affiliations. I’m sure if he has written anything that will emphasize his faith, we’ll be seeing it. He may very well be a “fundamentalist Christian”, but as of right now, I see nothing in the press to back it up beyond they’re saying so.

He’s apparently a Mason, though I have no idea what that has to do with anything. Someone, I’m sure, will find it relevant.

Strangely enough I seem to remember when home-grown jihadists have been arrested in the US, the press has studiously avoided mentioning religion but now the left seems to be going all in. As Clayton Cramer puts it:

But it does seem plausible that this guy was the equivalent of Timothy McVeigh.

I do think it will be interesting to watch how leftists who make excuses for Islamic terrorists (being victims and all that) will make no such excuses for this guy.

Also I suspect you will not see anyone Christian groups giving out cakes or naming schools after this fellow, I expect to see stuff more like Pam Geller:

SIOA and SIOE declare our sympathy for the victims and relatives of the victims of the heinous mass murders in Norway. We denounce the attacker and reiterate our dedication to the defense of free societies and opposition to all vigilantism and violence. Attempts to link us to these murders on the basis of alleged postings by the murderer mentioning us are absurd and offensive. Our work is and always has been wholly focused upon defending humane values and freedoms. There is no way that any sane person could possibly conclude that committing mass murder of children would advance the principles for which we stand. And if he was not sane, then any imputation of responsibility to us falters on that basis. Islamic jihadists and supremacists routinely invoke Islamic texts and teachings to justify violence, and thus those teachings are and should be rightly held up to scrutiny; by contrast, our record of support for human rights and the dignity of all human beings is consistent and unbroken. This murderer should be punished to the full extent of the law; any attempts to tar freedom fighters with his actions is deplorable.

This would be the same Pam Geller that my caller on the show today tried to use to link the killer to the tea party.

One might almost think there is a factor of relief that after so many false starts they finally managed to find a story that fits the template they have stored for years. There is odd oddity however:

he didn’t belong to any known factions in Norway’s small and splintered extreme-right movement and had no criminal record except for some minor offenses, the police official told the Associated Press.

A Facebook page matching his name and the photo given out by the police was set up just a few days ago. It listed his religion as Christian and his politics as conservative. It said he enjoys hunting, the video games World of Warcraft and Modern Warfare 2, and books including Machiavelli’s “The Prince” and George Orwell’s “1984.”

So, this is the information he wanted you to find. Assuming he set up this page and he is the murderer, these statement could either be precisely true, deliberate misinformation, or something in between.

The man knows about Machiavelli. What would Machiavelli post on Facebook before embarking on a massacre?

ADDED: Of course, disinformation is a big theme in Orwell’s “1984.” I’m tempted to say that the cues that his statements are lies are so strong that they suggest paradoxically that he is not lying.

I find it kinda odd that the facebook stuff was only set up a few days ago, usually people like this are all over the net, perhaps as the Anchoress suggested:

what I can’t help wondering as I look at these pictures of 32-year old Anders Behring Breivik is: were these professionally-done headshots meant for this moment? Did he have them done in anticipation of seeing them splashed all over the world and included in history books?

Did he mean to look as posed as possible for posterity?

My guess? I’m figuring this fellow has his own manifesto and we will almost certainly hear it at his trial, we still don’t know if he was working with anyone or not, but I’m used up my allotted quantity of speculation, but I suspect that the anti-anti’s will be running wild on this for a long while.

Update: Charles Johnson posting with tweets from CAIR as his credible source. I never thought I’d see the day

More to the point, to whom and for what shall Rubin or I apologize? To Mullah Krekar? Ansar al Islam? To the other jihadi groups and operatives who supported and applauded the attacks under the assumption that it was a fellow Islamic militant?

Like this:

I’ve talked about the Bill Sparkman story on and off, just to remind you, Sparkman was a man found dead in KY a couple of years ago. The initial reports suggested Murder and things written on his body suggested an anti-tax agenda etc by the killers.

Many on the left jumped at this saying things like “The body should be sent to Glenn Beck”.

The initial assumption of murder was logical, but the facts trumped the initial logical assumption.

That brings me to the Killings in Norway Yesterday. As you know when they broke I assumed an Islamic attack, there were plenty of signs of trouble in Norway and in fact two groups claimed credit for it. Logical assumption. While I was visiting an elderly friend most of yesterday I was thinking about how I would deal with these events today on the show. The one fly in the ointment, initial reports also suggested the camp shooter was disguised as a policeman, that screamed ethnic Norwegian since one of the issues with the Islamic population was a lack of assimilation, but not knowing how many Islamic officers there were, I filed it in the back of my mind.

I woke up this morning to find out two things:

1. 80 kids were shot in Norway 80, that’s about as bad as it gets.

2. For once it wasn’t an Islamic terrorist, in fact it looks very much like an Ultra Nationalist.

It seems I committed the Bill Sparkman error in reverse, It was of course a logical conclusion to believe Radical Islam had committed this attack as they are involved in the vast majority of such attacks worldwide, but vast majority by its very definition means that there is a small minority where they are not involved.

It’s an important lesson, as we might well remember, our German friends and those who collaborated with them in the 30’s and 40th didn’t need a belief in radical Islam to slaughter millions. Murders and killers and their causes predate radical Islam and will exist long after the Islamists are in the dustbin of history. There will always be a new group of killers, alone or with followers with a new agenda and a new excuse to kill.

Now am I sorry for getting it wrong? Yup, as I said, I jumped the gun and I should have known better. Am I sorry for suspecting radical Islam, nope, Radical Islam has a long track record in these matters, and as reported there were specific threats of this nature this very week Let’s remind everyone of this early report:

Update at 10:14 a.m. ET: Although the source of the blast is unclear, Al-Jazeera TV notes that Norwegian prosecutors on Tuesday filed a terrorism charge against Mullah Krekar, founder of the Kurdish Islamist group Ansar al-Islam.

Unless you want to start calling Al-Jazeera “Islamophobic” then one must conclude there were rational reasons to assume it was another Islamic attack.

Then the police announced that they had arrested a 32-year-old suspect who, they emphasized with what seemed like relief or even joy, was a tall, blond ethnic Norwegian (one police spokesman even called him an “ethnic Norwegian Norwegian,” a turn of phrase that Norwegians would describe as “smør på flesk” – i.e., putting butter on bacon, or, as we’d say in English, gilding the lily). They insisted that the suspect (although they described him not as a suspect but as a “perpetrator”) had no connection to a terrorist group, though when asked about other connections he might have, they seemed to dodge the question.

Now tell me why did the police emphasize with relief and joy that the suspect was not Islamic? Does it make the horrible murder of 80 children more palatable? Does it make the destruction in Oslo any less severe or bloody?

No. What it does is it allow them to kick the can down the road on an actual problem that they are still going to have to deal with and would rather not.

If it turns out that this guy is specifically Anti-Islamist as well and targeted his political foes because they were weak on the subject then he is evil AND stupid. Like Scott Roeder (the murderer of abortionist George Tiller) he not only forgets that an evil act does not justify another evil act but by his actions he gives support and cover to the very evil he opposes.

Now that the suspect is in custody and has been identified as an indigenous Norwegian, the latest reports refer to him as a “right-wing extremist”, presumably linked to some ultra-nationalist group.

Yet his attacks targeted the Socialists, the most anti-Israel of the major parties in Norway. Based on the affiliation of the people he killed, some websites go so far as to describe him as a “Zionist”.

To make matters even stranger, his Facebook page is quite innocuous — unless you consider The Prince subversive. And it was only set up a few days ago.

So I have no idea what the real story is. When the Scandinavian Gang of Five wake up in the morning, they will no doubt sift the latest Norwegian-language accounts, and possibly find something worth reporting.

However — assuming that the young man is not really a “Zionist” — his being a “right-wing extremist” does not rule out a jihad connection. Not at all.

Although Gates is correct that it doesn’t rule it out, it does make it extremely unlikely and sans credible connections I have to assume this to be wrong. (Yes it’s possible that by dismissing Gate’s suggestion I’ll make the same mistake twice, but this time I’ll risk it).

So to summarize, I jumped to a conclusion before all the facts were in, it was a logical conclusion that most rational people would have come to, but it was still wrong. It’s my bad and my Mea Culpa. It is my mistake and I own it.

However, those who choose to use this mistake to deny the dangers of radical Islam are making a bigger one. Just ask Molly Norris.

Update:Christian Fundamentalist? Please, name me the Christian church that has endorsed these actions and then you can cry Fundamentalism.

Stacy McCain has assiduously covered “the other side” of the Courtney Stodden-Doug Hutchinson nuptials, in which Courtney’s mother, Krista, gave permission for her 16-year-old daughter to marry 51-year-old Hutchinson.

Now, Da TechGuy blog is a Catholic blog, so I’ll start with the reasons why Catholics might oppose such a union: marriages wherein the woman is under 18 when she weds are the most likely to end up in divorce. Although Hutchinson and Stoddard were wed in a church, or with the consent of their pastor, they only dated for a very short time (perhaps four months?) before getting married. Catholics usually require at least six months, which is designed to prevent rash decisions (or, hypothetically, a 16-year-old with a crush on an older man from making a decision that affects her for the rest of her life). Furthermore, pre-Cana classes cover everything from finances, intimacy, Natural Family Planning, discussions with a priest, the sacrament of marriage, and the mentorship of a married couple.

Spent most of the day with an elderly friend and came home to find out two things.

1. 80 kids were shot in Norway 80, that’s about as bad as it gets.

2. For once it wasn’t an Islamic terrorist, in fact it looks very much like an Ultra Nationalist.

Looks like I committed the Bill Sparkman error in reverse, It was of course a logical conclusion to believe Radical Islam had committed this attack as they are involved in the vast majority of such attacks worldwide, but vast majority by its very definition means that there is a small minority where they are not involved.

It’s an important lesson, as we might well remember, our German friends and those who collaborated with them in the 30’s and 40th didn’t need a belief in radical Islam to slaughter millions.

Now am I sorry for getting it wrong? Yup, as I said, I jumped the gun and I should have known better. Am I sorry for suspecting radical Islam, nope, Radical Islam has a long track record in these matters. Consider this quote it speaks volumes: emphasis mine

Then the police announced that they had arrested a 32-year-old suspect who, they emphasized with what seemed like relief or even joy, was a tall, blond ethnic Norwegian (one police spokesman even called him an “ethnic Norwegian Norwegian,” a turn of phrase that Norwegians would describe as “smør på flesk” – i.e., putting butter on bacon, or, as we’d say in English, gilding the lily). They insisted that the suspect (although they described him not as a suspect but as a “perpetrator”) had no connection to a terrorist group, though when asked about other connections he might have, they seemed to dodge the question.

Now tell me why did the police emphasize with relief and joy that the suspect was not Islamic? Does it make the horrible murder of 80 children more palatable? Does it make the destruction in Oslo any less severe or horrible?

No what it does is it allow them to kick the can down the road on an actual problem that they are still going to have to deal with and would rather not.

If it turns out that this guy is specifically Anti-Islamist as well and targeted his political foes because they were weak on the subject then he is evil AND stupid. Like Scott Roeder (the murderer of abortionist George Tiller) he not only forgets that an evil act does not justify another evil act but by his actions he gives support and cover to the very evil he opposes.

I’m putting this above the post because since I was wrong I want to lead with the correct info and I’ll leave the stuff I already wrote below the fold. It’s important not to throw mistakes down the memory hole as it is unseemly, but it will be a good reminder to me to look before I leap.

Once again sorry to get it wrong. That’s my bad. (I will be putting this up as it’s own post later to emphasize it.

To say I’ve had a bit of a run of bad luck is kind of mild. In the space of 10 days 2 of three cars have needed vital repairs at a total cost of over $1,000 (and the repair shop treated me well). I had physical issues with the laptop that cost me a further $150 and a property Tax bill due for another $500 and some doctor bills not covered by DaWife’s new insurance for another $300 bucks.

Put simply I find myself $1800 in the hole with very few reserves left to tap and 10 days to come up with the money without spending the mortgage money also due at the end of the month.

Update 2:re-arranged the post so you can get to the actual posts on da blog. Goal reached in 71 hours and 41 minutes after the initial post.. Running totals under the jump.

Share this:

Like this:

Question: Why on earth are stories about Michelle Bachmann’s migraine headaches front page news and being reported on ABC?

For the daily Caller this is a win, the MSM often fails to pick up their materials, but as Stacy McCain noted when “conservatives” attack republicans suddenly a Daily Caller piece becomes desirable.

But why the Daily caller? The question is answered by who this piece benefits the most, and that Answer is Mitt Romney and the establishment GOP. Let’s go back to March 31st and note Romney’s one big advantage in this race.

The establishment GOP hates and fears any Palin-like candidate and likes him.

The worst thing that can happen to him is a candidate to break out and the candidate he wants least to break out if Michelle Bachmann. Unfortunately for Mitt he can’t afford to be seen directly attacking either a Palin or a Bachmann. So surrogates must be called into play.

So the needs of the left and Bachmann have converged. Romney needs Bachmann to be Palinized. As David French put it on the Corner:

Exactly one week ago, I wrote that Michele Bachmann should prepare for the Sarah Palin treatment. As Glenn Stanton noted today, the Left is coming after her with its customary class, accusing her husband of being gay. But now anonymous conservatives have bared their claws. I suppose such betrayals are inevitable in politics, but they are still intolerable.

The doctor’s note not withstanding the left is going to run whole hog on this. (Carl Bernstein was hitting her on Morning Joe today, Mika thought the whole argument was sexist)

Unfortunately for the left her story is even more compelling than Palin’s French again:

Michele Bachmann has a personal story that Hollywood would love if she were liberal. A mother of five took in foster child after foster child, grew alarmed at the poor quality of their mandatory public education, and then launched herself into the political process to improve their lives. They’d pitch Julia Roberts for the part if Bachmann had only been crusading against a power plant or land development. As it is, she has to settle for the Palin treatment — from the Left and the Right.

“Nobody would ever ask a man whether they thought of themselves as a flake,” said Jennifer Duffy, senior political editor at Cook Political Report, an independent, nonpartisan online newsletter. Duffy said that while Bachmann has not been grilled about her hair, makeup or clothes, Wallace’s question suggested a sexist litmus test. Bachmann’s response: She’s a mother, a lawyer and a congresswoman — and the question was “insulting.”

Expect an awful lot more of this stuff as long as Bachmann’s numbers continue to run high, why?

There’s only one reason for this sort of thing: Mitt Romney is feeling the heat.

and as long as the heat is on so will the pressure from any outlet funded by establishment money.

Posts navigation

Listen to your Granny

Food Glorious Food

Find Discounts at the Stores you Love

Bloggers Prayer

Oh God, you who gave free will to your creation, bless those who use that precious gift to blog.

May we though this gift of freedom of expression enlighten, entertain and inform our readers, and we ask particular blessing for those who bring your word across the net, that they may faithfully execute your command to make disciples of all nations.